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To Professor Pius Adesanmi -Re: The Good Of Bad
I also did not enjoy the story of the "Egbon" you related in your piece referenced above. The confusion is with him conflating citizenship with civic responsibility. He's a dual citizen – an American and a Nigerian, but eventually he chose in 2010 "to dedicate the next phase of his life to being a patriotic American citizen". And what exactly does this mean? Did this mean an erasure of Nigeria and all his Nigerianness from his consciousness and memory? Did it include a lack of acknowledgement of his Nigerian citizenship or a handing back of his passport, something you said you yourself contemplated in the depth of your despondency? So, what exactly did this comfortable Nigerian citizen do to change the things he didn't like about Nigeria, except gripe about them? Or he believed it was somebody else's place to set Nigeria on the path of Eldorado, but not him who was obviously too busy earning money and living the good life in America? Oh, okay, I get it. He used to spend time "thinking through Nigeria's endless self-inflicted woes and self-designed failures" and simply only had to stop thinking to get his sanity back. So, how is he today? Is he still making money and enjoying life as a citizen of good old America? We thank God for his now beautiful life….
Meanwhile, I see that poor President Goodluck Jonathan is enjoying some new descriptive uplift in your vocabulary. He's now "the incubus", "one wicked, evil man" and in fact, you have dubbed him a traitor you would be putting on trial one day. Hmm….You're very kind. Someone actually called for him to get the bullet. It's the signs of the time, innit?
Now, let me briefly talk about this rescheduling or postponement of the election, which you now consider the worst thing to happen to Nigeria since 1993. I'm doing so briefly here, because I actually intend doing a detailed piece on it later when I have the time. I'm doing so, because I believe it's basic common sense that shouldn't detain anyone, except people with an agenda and a prepared answer to questions they've concocted in their minds. You may not be one of these characters, but all the same you got it wrong, very wrong.
Listen, I don't know who and who is reaching a consensus that the sensible rescheduling or postponement of the election is some great evil or something designed to kill democracy or a civilian coup or anything of the sort. But I'll urge you guys to stop the drama and the wild claim that this is some kind of pre-annulment of an election Jonathan was going to lose, whatever that means. Noise is not a substitute for substance. The majority of voters of this country are Willing, Able and Ready to return Jonathan triumphantly to Aso Rock while they retire the perennial loser, Buhari to Daura permanently. Our only worry is his penchant for tears and violence when he loses; but, this time, Nigerians are not going to let him suck their blood as he did in 2011! Only people who are conducting elections in their dreams would think that he can defeat Jonathan in a free and fair election just because he's joined forces with some of the vilest crooks in our nation in the APC! Four years ago, elections were stopped midway on the same day people were voting and the sky did not fall! We held that election and previous elections in April and still had time to conclude things before May 29th handover date and everything within the timeframe stipulated by law each time. So, what's the fuss if we now postpone the election to March?
Before the Council of State meeting of Thursday, February 5, 2015, I happened upon a thread on Facebook started by my good friend and patriot, Femi Adeoya where he was speculating that the situation we were in was another June 12 situation. After explaining that there's nothing remotely resembling a June 12 situation in the matter (especially as no election has been conducted nor a presumed winner known), I said the following with regard to the speculations at the time on postponement:
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"My problem with all this is the way INEC is going about it. When the NSA in faraway England mentioned that he had suggested to Jega about the possibility of postponement, he was talking during a Q & A session after the event at Chatham House. It was not part of his presentation. He only spoke the truth when someone was pointing out to him that the Sultan of Sokoto and some prominent people, including ordinary Nigerians have not had their PVCs. The man answered honestly that INEC at the time had spent more than a year distributing only 30 million PVCs, which was still less than half to be distributed. It is a commonsensical assumption that they cannot distribute the rest within three weeks before the election. So, if it means a little adjustment to the timetable within the law (because the law provides for this), why not? The NSA, who himself is a stakeholder did not give the excuse of fighting going on in a section of the country or anything like that and all he offered was a suggestion based on the facts – a suggestion that INEC was free to consider or reject. But then all hell broke loose! I mean, think about it, wouldn't we have bigger problems if a section of the population is disenfranchised? Is it not better to get it right than play brinkmanship over a date when we know the consequences of people not allowed to vote? And while we talk PVCs, have we considered all the other aspects of preparation that INEC is yet to sort out?
Honesty, this is a no-brainer. INEC should take a good look at itself and its organization and preparation for the forthcoming election. It should do an audit immediately and then honestly determine if it needs more time. Once it determines it needs more time, it should then call the leaders of all the political parties, present its case before them and act on a consensus of opinion put forward by them. No one should be excluded. I say this, because I suspect INEC and its Chairman are trying to stonewall here. They are doing the usual Nigerian thing of saying no one should step on their patch. I don't think Jega is happy that the NSA mentioned their conversation over timing and his suggestion, because that made him look unprepared, while he wants to give the impression of being prepared, especially after he's stated clearly that they have been given all the money they need for the election. Yet, he should have seen the NSA's comment as removing pressure from INEC. He should have acknowledged it, told the nation that the February 14 date is still in view and that they are doing everything to get the PVC to everybody. He should have then ended it by promising to constantly keep the nation involved on developments along that line as election approaches. Of course, everyone knows that where there's a necessity to postpone, we'll and should do so within the law. Leaving the matter to be this politicized is the fault of INEC.
So, yeah, it should between now and the weekend determine whether it needs to postpone it and if so, get the political parties together for a talk and come up with a consensus of time within the law. We don't need all the noise!
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And that's all everyone needs to really know about this thing in a nutshell. Dasuki did not go to London to talk election postponement. Read his speech there and you wouldn't see anything of that nature. As I stated above, his comment about the election came in the course of the Q & A session and here is the exchange in full:
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Question by Theodore Damian:
The Royal Highness Sultan of Sokoto said he doesn't have a voter's card and I know so many Nigerians who do not have a Permanent Voter's Card. If you say from your presentation that Nigerians who are eligible to vote would be allowed to do and their vote will count, what is your department doing to ensure that INEC register these people to ensure they have a permanent voter's card?
Response National Security Adviser:
"The issue of the Sultan's card. He said it when the president came to visit him. I raised the issue with the INEC chairman and he said that 'what happened in the case of the Sultan, everybody in his polling unit, their fingerprints were not taken and they have to re-register them.' Apparently, the Sultan isn't happy that he hasn't received his card, as it is taking too long.
"What we said about people voting. Our concern with INEC. The law provides for elections to be conducted not more than 90 days before and not less than 30 days to the end of an administration. February 14 is closer to the 90 days before the end of the tenure. We raised it with INEC, we said look there is a problem. If you had a year plus and all we have been able to do is distribute, I think, about 50 percent of the cards. We still have about 30 million cards to distribute according to them (INEC). Look at the possibility of shifting this thing and doing it when everybody has a card, because it doesn't cost you anything. It's still within the law and it is safer for all of us. So that is what we are encouraging. They keep assuring us that everybody will get his card but I doubt it. If in one year, you distributed 30 million, I don't see how you will distribute another 30 million in two weeks. It doesn't make sense, but well, that is where we are".
Question by Anthony :
Can I just clarify something, did you say, the NSA, that there should be a delay in elections? And if so when will be the best to hold the elections?
Response by National Security Adviser:
"What I said was, there is nothing wrong with us delaying to ensure that everybody that wants to vote get that card to vote. This is because, the comment every day we hear is: 'You can't vote without a Permanent Voter's Card.' If you can't vote without a Permanent Voter's Card, what sense does it make to vote three months early when 30 million people whose cards have not been issued are still with INEC? That's my position. So INEC makes the determination. If you can distribute those cards today, we will all be happy; but, if you can't, please consider and look at the other options".
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And that was it! It needed not generate the hoopla it did, except that the APC people who sniff conspiracy everywhere thought this was Jonathan trying to force Jega's hand to postpone the election when the facts are simple:
(1) We may have differing view about whether it is right or wrong for the National Security Adviser (NSA) to mention a suggestion he had given to Professor Jega privately in the circumstances, a suggestion he never took to the press or anyone, a suggestion that came by way of them discussing the Sultan's situation of not having a PVC during a Q & A session. But whatever our opinion, his story thankfully enlightened us on the real problem INEC has, which it isn't disclosing three weeks before election. I mean, Jega and his Commissioners had spent more than a year distributing 30 million of 68.8 millions PVCs. PVCs are the most important requirements in the election. Without it, no voting. So, how do they hope to distribute the nearly 40 million remaining in three weeks?
(2) We have usually held past elections in April. The date of February is not one fixed by law; it is a tentative date that the law allows to be shifted if and when necessary. The law gives INEC that power, but stipulates whatever the case, elections should be done 30 days before swearing in. Obviously, for an important thing like distribution of PVCs (which, as we came to know later, is just one of several problems relating to INEC's unpreparedness), such an adjustment is sensible. The NSA did not direct them to change date or dictate that they should do so, because he has no such powers. He did not say he discussed it with the President or any PDP topnotch. He simply said he suggested it to the INEC Chairman in the course of discussing the Sultan's situation, but acknowledges that the decision about whether to continue as planned or take his suggestion is INEC's, not his.
(3) However, rather than understand the context of the NSA's comment and rather than see this as a huge opportunity offered by the NSA to remove the burden from INEC, an opportunity that Jega should have seized on to immediately address the issue while leaving room for a rescheduling or postponement that he was going to do anyway, he came before the camera to declare INEC is prepared for the election. Most ill advisedly, he carried himself and his Commissioners to the Council of State meeting when he needed not to be there, because the Constitution and the electoral law did not give the Council of State power to postpone or not postpone the election. That power is solely INEC's!
(4) So, like the Old Grand Duke of York, Jega marched his men to the Council of State meeting and marched them out again and what was the decision? Nothing! Yes, absolutely nothing, because the Council of State knows it is not competent to make any declaration as per the timing of the election. It's only got advisory powers and despite the clownish seriousness of Rochas Okorocha declaring that the Council asked INEC to go perform its statutory or constitutional duty (as though INEC needs anybody to tell them to do this), it was clear that the wise counsel given was the one stated by Governor Olusegun Mimiko, which is that INEC should go and consult the political parties and other stakeholders and reach a decision on its own. This was what INEC ought to have done, rather than march to the Council meeting.
(5) In the end, the security report, which Jega is hiding behind now as the main reason is only an additional reason, which it necessarily has to consider, even if its ineptitude were not an issue. However, the key thing to note is that INEC was always going to postpone the date of the vote, whether or not there was a security report for the original reason of the lack of distribution of 34 % of the PVCs. This does not include another 4% or about 5 million voters who have met all the requirements, but who INEC lost in their bureaucratic maze, which means they are deprived of PVCs and cannot vote.
(6) Just to be sure that this is not mere speculation, a look at the presentation made by INEC at the Council of State meeting stated clearly that unlike Jega's earlier declaration of preparedness, they actually need more time.
(7) The security report by the security chiefs is a normal affair. Whether or not there's an election pending, as far as the nation is involved in security operations, a report of its status will always be presented to the Council of State. This was not a report prepared to stop the election, but a report prepared to inform the Council of State about the present state of things regarding national security and defence. It is copied to INEC as required, because INEC needs to be aware of the security situation in any area it intends to organize an election. In the event, the report became a convenient excuse for INEC not its original or main reason. It was absolutely convenient for Jega to rely on it, rather than admit his ineptitude and incompetence, which is actually the original reason we are in this situation and which would have still led to postponement, even if security considerations were not available to rely on.
(8) What we need to note is that security was not part of the consideration when Dasuki spoke in London. It became an issue only because between his visit to London and the time of the Council of State meeting, a major development had taken place in the form of the international community finally beginning to realize that the Boko Haram menace is not a Nigerian local phenomenon, but a sub-regional threat and a threat to the world at large. They now recognize what we have been saying since, which is that the Boko Haram thing is a Nigerian franchise of Global Jihad. Also other members of the multinational force, which Nigeria had tried to put together for the better part of two years now suddenly realized that Boko Haram poses a threat to them too. In the past, countries like Chad, Cameroon and Niger were content to let their countries be staging posts and hiding places for the Boko Haram militants once they finish their murderous operations in Nigeria. At the time, they paid lip service to the multinational force and even acted as saboteurs of the Nigerian army within the multinational force to the extent that we even began to suspect that people like Idris Derby of Chad were sponsoring Boko Haram. But once Boko Haram's sphere of influence within Nigeria began to be diminished through the activities of the Nigerian military and they started threatening these nations, they realized they have to take the membership of the multinational force seriously. Nigeria persevered and diplomatically leaned on France (their colonial overlord), which after the Charlie Hebdo Islamist massacre saw the need to listen to Nigeria. It then got its erstwhile colonial possessions to take their membership of the international multinational force seriously and so began the great push that now has Boko Haram with its tail behind its legs. Thus, what the security report does is simply to update the Council on these developments. It only coincides with INEC's own unpreparedness, not that it is the main reason.
(9) The security forces are trying to secure the affected places and they need to do so and hold ground for sometime to be sure it's safe for any massive civil action like the conduct of an election. We don't want voters being caught in crossfire between insurgents and soldiers. So, it is not only that the soldiers needed for election purposes elsewhere would still be needed in the insurgency affected places (four of five states), the security of any electoral activity that involves the movement of ad-hoc staff and materials cannot be guaranteed. It is no rocket science to accept that a postponement within the provisions of the law would be good for everyone. But instead of the APC and its activists to understand this simple matter, they are busy vilifying Dasuki, Jonathan, PDP and anyone who is reasonable enough to understand that the postponement is necessary.
(10) So, here's the summary of (1) to (9) above: The problem is not the security situation per se. That became an issue only because a latter report came before the Council detailing present operations and their implications for the election in the affected areas. The real problem is Jega's ineptitude. He's had 4 years to prepare for this; he's said he's got all the money he needed. But rather than do what he needed to do in time, which is get out the PVCs on time, get all electoral materials secured and complete the training of ad-hoc staff at least six months before the election, he sat on his hands and waited. He knew he was very likely going to postpone it, because there was no way he was going to get those PVCs out in time before the election, but three weeks before that all-important election, he still was not addressing the nation on this. It took the advertent or inadvertent intervention of the NSA for him to begin to run around like a headless chicken. Worse still, rather than use the opportunity offered by the NSA to simply do his lawful duty, he raised the national temperature first with his jitters, ran to the Council of State and created an atmosphere that gave the impression there was a conspiracy to undermine the election when there was absolutely nothing of the sort!
(11) The above is just the simple truth. When I have time, I will discuss it in detail. I would have read your piece and moved on, but I consider your emotive vituperations dangerous enough to respond to now, even if briefly. I do not see the reason for all this. What is the opposition afraid of? Would whoever wants to vote for them on February 14 not vote for them again on March 28? If that is their fear, then it calls to question the product they are selling Nigerians if they fear that such a product cannot stand six weeks of scrutiny! I mean, if a product cannot stand six weeks of scrutiny, why should we elected him for four years? INEC Chairman has stated that it will not cost an extra kobo and the question of not doing the election, no matter what does not arise, so in whose interest is it to disenfranchise such a huge voting population? Why do so when the law gives us time enough time to get more of them to pick up their PVCs and vote within the lawfully stated time? Why is the opposition talking about demoralization of voters? Are the APC supporters that fickle? Are they in this for their future or just in this for the drama? Why all the hues and cries about militarization when they are the ones threatening to breach the peace if there's a postponement? Or do they think we will let them run into the street to start mayhem just because they like to? Were they not consulted by Jega before the decision was reached? Did he not present them the facts that we all as citizens are now aware of? Must we accept the opposition's Armageddonian view of developments? Must we indulge them if they cannot get a good grip of themselves and look at things soberly and reasonably? Why is the opposition so prone to violence and bad behavior?
(12) I think we all should try to make things work, not complicate matters or incite people with our words. We all have a responsibility to make things work. Enough of the theatrics.
Kennedy Emetulu
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